


Promise

by heartlikeabomb



Category: Chicago Med, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Gen, Will Halstead Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27377461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartlikeabomb/pseuds/heartlikeabomb
Summary: Someone uses Will to send a message to Jay.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67





	Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote a couple of short pieces for Whumptober 2020 on Tumblr and figured I'd share them here. Would love to read some feedback if anyone has anything to offer. I haven't written in years and finally decided to get back in the game. At least a little bit.

Will parted ways with everyone at Molly’s a little earlier than usual. He was tired. It had been one of those days in the ED. 

He only had about three quarters of a beer before he decided that it was best to head back to Jay’s to get some sleep. 

Jay and Ruzek razzed him a bit for it but Will brushed it off. He had another 12 hour shift in the morning and he’d gotten better at knowing when his body needed rest.

Will got outside and cursed the Chicago wind and the fact that he had to park three blocks away. He pulled his jacket tighter, wishing his scrubs were better at holding in the heat, and picked up his pace. 

As he approached an alley where the streetlight had gone out, he felt someone yank his jacket. Within seconds he was pushed up against a brick wall by two pairs of strong arms, his face scraping across the rough surface.

“What’s up, doc? Where you going this fine night?”

Will didn’t waste any time. “My wallet is in my back pocket, cell phone and keys are in my jacket pocket, right side.”

“Well aren’t we compliant?” one of the men sneered. “If only that was what we were here for.”

Will was flipped onto his back and finally the suspects came into view. All three were outfitted in balaclavas and dark clothing. Of the two restraining him, one was large, both in weight and stature. The other was smaller but appeared equally as strong. The third man stood back, watching Will squirm in his men’s tight grip.

“The great Dr. Halstead. Funny running into you here.”

“How do you know who I am?” Will asked cautiously, after glancing down and seeing that his jacket fully covered his name stitched into his scrub top. 

The man standing back sent his knee flying into Will’s abdomen. Will attempted to curl in on himself but was unable to due to the tightness with which he was restrained.

“Courtesy of your brother of course. Detective Halstead.”

The man stepped forward again and Will resisted the urge to flinch.

“You see, that brother of yours has been sniffing around places he has no business sniffing around. He’s causing some problems for me. I need you to bring him a message.”

Will bit back a laugh. “Oh yeah? Who do I say it’s from?”

The man laughed. A deep, unsettling chuckle. “Oh, he’ll know.”

Without any further conversation, the man let loose on Will. Punching him repeatedly in the head, the stomach, any place that was exposed with his position pinned against the wall. It felt like the assault went on for an eternity.

Will was left unable to defend himself. By the time the blows stopped and the hands released him, he didn’t have enough strength in his legs to support the rest of his body. He crumpled to the ground and reflexively covered his head with his arms.

He heard laughs above him before the man leaned down and patted his shoulder. Will jumped back like he had been shocked. “You make sure that message gets to him now, you got it?”

Will grunted in response. 

The men left Will in the alley, bleeding and cold. 

Will waited, trying to inventory his injuries and gather the strength to move. 

He managed to move a shaking hand to his pocket and get a hand around his cell phone. He pulled it out but lost his grip the phone clattering to the pavement about a foot further away. He sighed and again gathered the strength the reach for it.

He grabbed it tightly and quickly unlocked it, finding Jay in his ‘favorites’ list and tapping to call.

The phone rang once, twice, three times before going to voicemail. Will groaned and hung up, then immediately redialed him.

This time an answer came in the middle of the first ring.

“What’s up, Will? You change your mind?” Molly’s was loud. Jay was shouting into the phone.

“Jay,” he gasped out. “Need your help.”

“What?”

Will swallowed a mix of blood and saliva and repeated himself. “Need. Help.”

Will heard Jay curse and after a few seconds, it was quieter. He assumed Jay had stepped outside.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Two blocks south. In the alley.”

“Hold on, Will, I’m coming. Stay on the phone.”

Will breathed a sigh of relief. Jay was coming. Will began to shiver, the adrenaline falling away and shock setting in.

Jay reached the alley and raced over to the figure laying on the ground.

“What the hell happened?! Who did this to you?!”

Will’s face was cut up and bleeding, one eye beginning to swell severely. He had a trail of blood coming out of the side of his mouth. Jay worried about the injuries he couldn’t see.

“Need to get to Med,” he choked out between breaths. “Pretty…sure…I broke a…rib or two.”

“Can you walk? Should I call an ambulance?”

“I’ll be fine… just help me up.”

Jay helped pull Will into a sitting position and Will tried his best to hold in a groan as his body was jostled. 

“You ready to try and stand?”

Will nodded, wanting to conserve his breath and energy.

Jay heaved him up, taking on most of his weight. Will pointed him in the direction of his car and together they slowly hobbled over. 

Jay fished the keys out of Will’s pocket and unlocked the doors, settling his brother into the passenger seat. 

Jay sped off for Med, making it there in record time. 

He carefully got Will out of the car and through the ED doors. “I need help here!”

“Will!” It was Connor. “What happened to you?”

Jay shook his head. “I found him like this. Someone beat the shit out of him. I have no idea who or why yet.”

Connor ushered them into a trauma room. Monique, one of the ED nurses appeared quickly to assist. 

Jay helped Will out of his jacket and onto the gurney. Will continued breathing heavily before he started coughing. Thick red blood sprayed from his mouth.

Connor cut off Will’s scrub top and found an irritated chest covered in red splotches.

“Monique, start a line and I need a CBC, ABG, chest x-ray, and a CT c-spine, chest, and pelvis. And someone get me the fast scanner!”

“Connor,” Will gasped out, “my chest is killing me. Pretty sure it’s a hemothorax.”

Connor nodded reassuringly. “Just let me do the diagnosing, Will. I got you.”

Jay had no idea what any of that meant. He stood off to the side, frozen, as he watched the Med staff move around his brother at a rapid pace, inserting needles and taking samples.

A portable x-ray was brought to the room and Jay was made to step out for a few moments. This was not supposed to happen. Will was supposed to work in the hospital, not be a patient in it. 

“Yup, a sizeable hemothorax. Looks like one of those broken ribs did some damage. Set me up for a 28 french. Will, I’m gonna put a chest tube in and drain that blood to get you breathing better. Then we’ll work on the rest.”

Will nodded and tried to bring as much air into his lungs as possible. He put in chest tubes all the time. He knew it was no big deal. But being on the receiving end of one made him uncomfortable. 

Connor lifted Will’s arm up over his head which caused him to groan loudly.

“I know, buddy, we’re gonna work on getting that pain under control too.”

Connor splashed some betadine over the side of his chest and readied a needle with Lidocaine. Will winced as the numbing agent was injected in various locations around his ribs. 

Connor made a deep incision and inserted a Kelly clamp to create a path through the muscle and other tissues. Connor then breached the chest cavity and replaced the clamp with his finger before picking up the large tube to be placed in Will’s chest. 

Will’s breathing continued to be labored and was broken by the occasional groan of pain.

“I know, I know, almost there,” Connor said calmly. “Tube going in,” he warned.

“Agh!” Will shouted, trying his best to remain still.

Within seconds, blood began to drain and Will’s breathing eased. 

“Better?” Connor inquired, checking his breath sounds to ensure proper placement.

Will nodded, still catching his breath.

“Gonna do a quick scan to check your belly and then we need to get you upstairs to take care of that displaced rib.”

Connor grabbed the wand, which had been prepped with jelly, and began probing Will’s stomach. Will winced.

“I don’t see any free fluid so I’m going to guess you’re in the clear. But we’ll keep an eye on it just in case,” he responds, nodding to Will. “Call upstairs and tell them to prep an OR.”

Connor turned and acknowledged Jay. “He’s gonna be fine. I’m gonna take care of those ribs and get him resting in a room as soon as possible.”

“Jay,” Will called from the bed.

Jay moved at lightning speed to stand next to his brother.

“There were three guys. Said it was a message to you. Something about not sniffing around where you’re not supposed to. Said you would know who they were.”

Realization dawned on him. This was not a mugging or a random attack. Someone hurt Will to hurt Jay. And he knew exactly who.

Tears sprang to his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Will. I’m so sorry. I had no idea it would get out of hand like this.”

Will shook his head. “No, no, no. I don’t blame you. This isn’t your fault. Just wanted you to know. So you can go get the bastards.”

Jay smiled. “I will, I promise. Just get better.”

Will grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Promise.”


End file.
